Chapter Two

Hello, and welcome to the collaborative fanfiction of Sailor Myth, an online role-playing game based on Sailormoon, but with different senshi and a different location. Our game takes place in the city of Roanoke, Virginia, and our senshi are named after everything from Greek and Roman deities to stars, constellations, and angels!

Our purpose in posting our chapters up here on ff.net is twofold. First, we'd like to get some feedback on our writing, and second, we're always looking for new players to join us! If you're a writer, we'd love to have whatever senshi is running around in your head join our menagerie.

For more information, please check out our main page, or send an e-mail to Emiko, our GM. She'll be glad to answer any questions you may have! Thanks for your attention. We hope you enjoy the show!

Chapter Two:
Bathroom Ballistics!

by Emiko, Arainia, Rachel, Chandra, and Tami

"Sophia! Wake up!"

"Wuh--" came a sleepy groan. Sophia Dunn, always a light sleeper, opened her eyes and looked at the bird perched on her chest. "Puh-Perdix?"

Happily, the bird dug his claws into Sophie's skin. "Rise and shine, Sophia! Today is the first day of the new school year, and you'll want to get an early start."

Sophie rolled over onto her side, dumping Perdix on the ground, and stared at the flashing lights on her alarm clock. She looked at the display for a few moments before the meaning of the numbers finally sunk in.

"You woke me up at four in the effin' morning!?" she howled. Perdix, newly recovered from his unceremonious dumping on the floor, bobbed his head.

After three weeks of hiding the bird, Sophie was used to Perdix in many ways. This was not one of them. Rolling over, she threw her pillow in Perdix's general direction and mumbled, "Wake me up at seven."

Today was the first day of school. Letalis Forma woke up at 5 A.M. so she could get her makeup, hair, and clothing perfect. After hours of work, the finished product was positively stunning. The locket matched perfectly, too. Percy glared at her cynically. "Your skirt is too short, the shirt too tight, the heels too large, too much make-up..." he criticized, looking her up and down.

"Be quiet bird," she replied lazily, sitting down on her bed.

"You leave in five minutes," the bird ordered, scowling like only a bird could.

"You can't boss me around," Leta retorted, hurling her pajamas at Percy's cage.

"Huh? Oh! It got dark! HALP!" Perseus cried, squawking madly within his cage. Leta ignored him and checked her make-up one last time.

"Good morning class," said the teacher jovially as students filed in and began to take their seats. "I am Mr. Campbell, and I am your Latin teacher."

That was when Leta stopped paying attention.

Latin class. Another word for pain.

As Mr. Campbell droned on about a topic that was a cure for insomnia, Jace T. Kellen boredly swirled patterns in the dust on her desk. (The 'T' stood for 'Timothea', but Jace told anyone who bothered to ask that it stood for 'Titus'.)

Eventually, for the want of a distraction, Jace started humming in desperation. After a couple of minutes, she had picked up quite a nice tune. She put words to it inside her head and was pleased with the results.

-Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Class.-

Why did I sign up for this class, anyway? I don't even like Latin! It's the only language nobody speaks, besides double-dutch and Egyptian.

-And the teacher he is talking, but he's talking out his a... -

"Miss Kellen?"

Jace looked up, momentarily startled out her stupor.

Mr. Campbell coughed politely. "If you'd deign to come out of your musical reverie and get your attention back to me?"

"My aunt's camel has fallen in the mirage," Jace informed him in flawless Latin.

He looked rather stunned.

"That's the only thing I can say," she said again, with false cheeriness.

"Ah... that's... very nice, Miss Kellen," he said, flustered. "But if you'd turn your attention back to syntax..?"

"Yes, well," she snorted, and opened her textbook.

Mr. Campbell gave her a startled look, much like a deer in the headlights, and turned back to the snickering class.

"Knew I should've taken Spanish," Jace muttered.

The redhead was not in a good mood, but often the phrase 'not in a good mood' applied to Jace meant 'in the best mood possible'. However, this was a truly bad mood. Not only had her coffee and sugar supply run out that morning, but it was the first day of school and she was in a silly, irrelevant class full of twittering blondes. Jace smirked; a bird probably had a higher IQ than most of the students around her.

Mr. Campbell gave Jace a sharp book and she tried to docilely turn back to Latin syntax and grammar, resting her head on her hands.

Oh, God. Another year.

Keeping her eyes open as best she could, Jace continued to listen to the drone of her teacher explaining a language long fallen into disuse.

Though similarly bored by the situation, Sophia Dunn fell into the small percentage of the class that found Latin useful. It was, as the teacher repeatedly stressed, the source of 65% of the words in the English language. That meant Sophie could use it. But these classmates... Sophie found it hard not to stare at Jace's wheelchair.

A sudden motion by Sophie's foot surprised her away from her reverie. The bird, Sophie remembered. The stupid bird. Sophie shot her hand up.

"Yes, Miss, ah..." Mr. Campbell stuttered, trying to remember Sophie's name.

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"Sure, just take the pass." He pointed to the wooden board with the words "Campbell Pass" stenciled on it. Every teacher had one. Sophie reached down, shouldered her backpack, and went for the pass. Just as she was about to make it out the door, Mr. Campbell stopped her. "Excuse me, but you're going with your backpack?"

With a malicious grin, Sophie said, "I hope that's not a problem," and dashed away down the hallway to the bathroom. Before the teacher could send anyone after her she had disappeared inside the hallowed smoking stalls and opened her bag.

"Thank the gods! I was beginning to suffocate in there!"

"Perdix!" Sophie growled. "You almost got me in huge trouble back there! What could possibly be so important that you'd want to make so much noise?"

A bit indignant, Perdix turned his beak up at Sophie. "Well, don't expect me to tell you now, young lady," he said in his most parental tone. "Hey, I'm in the girls' bathroom--"

The partridge's realization was cut short by a strong hand around his neck. "Listen up, birdbrain. You're going to tell me why you made so much noise or I swear you'll never make any noise again!"

"Gods, okay, just keep your hands off me," Perdix squawked, ruffling his neck feathers in an attempt to straighten them. "I was trying to tell you that three of your classmates have Graikos potential."

"What?"

"They're senshi. Like you."

The conversation was suddenly cut short by the presence of a third figure in the room.

Acacia Aisling pushed open the bathroom door hesitantly, as if to incline the notion she didn't want to be there. She had been sent by Mr. Campbell to retrieve Sophie, but she hadn't volunteered. She was listening attentively to the teacher when Sophie had excused herself from the classroom. She wasn't ecstatic to bring the confusing person back, for she enjoyed Latin, as well as any other subject she could grasp. She gave herself up to school, she had nothing else to enjoy, and home was a depressing, lonely place with her dad gone on a business trip.

I guess Mr. Campbell had the idea that Sophie was my companion, Acacia thought. He doesn't stop to think that I have no companions.

She tapped on the tile wall ever so lightly.

"Sophie?" she whispered in her unique British accent. "Sophie, are you there?"

"Uh, yeah," Sophie answered, staring at Perdix. There was no time for her to get rid of the bird. "Shit," she whispered to herself as she opened the door, careful to keep her body in between Acacia and Perdix.

"She's one!" an overly enthusiastic voice exclaimed. An overly enthusiastic and identifiably male voice. With a squawk and shuffle, Perdix shot forward between Sophie's legs and jumped up in front of Acacia. "She's one of the senshi, Sophia!"

Acacia gasped. She gaped.

"A-a-a s-senshi..." she stammered breathlessly, eyes wide as silver dollars. "A-a-a talking b-b-b-......."

And fell flat in a faint.

For a few moments, Sophie looked at Acacia's unmoving form, then she turned to Perdix. "Now look what you've done, you dumb bird!" she growled at him. "No way I'm going to be able to explain this to Mr. Campbell."

"I didn't expect that to happen!" Perdix twittered, hopping around Acacia in a worried fashion. Sophie paid him no heed, instead taking out her lighter. "What are you going to do with that?"

Determination on her face, Sophie marched out of the bathroom and the building. She stopped in front of a blue trash can in front of the door and promptly lit it on fire. That done, she marched back into the building and pulled the fire alarm located conveniently just outside the bathroom.

As expected, there were a few moments of nothing. Students were so used to fire alarms they never made a big deal out of them. Sophie used the brief pause to yell for Perdix. He appeared at the bathroom door looking confused.

"What's going on? What's that noise?"

"The fire alarm. Now listen up, bird." Sophie had to talk fast; classroom doors were beginning to open. "The kids in my class will pass right by us. I want you to tell me who the senshi are supposed to be and I'll just direct them towards us. Got it?"

"Sophia, that's genius! The girl in the wheelchair and that pretty blonde. I'll wait inside and make sure our friend doesn't go anywhere."

If anyone noticed the bird just inside the doorway of the girls' bathroom, they stayed quiet. Sophie scanned the crowd and easily spotted her first target. With a triumphant smile, she strode into the crowd and grabbed Jace's wheelchair.

Jace's day had not been going well, so her mood had changed from negative to positively grumpy to downright hellish. So when Sophia grabbed her wheelchair, she was not a very happy camper, to say the least.

Her head swung around so fast passers-by were practically decapitated by her spiky bangs. "Look, honey," she snarled. "I know I'm sexy, but if you don't let go right now, you're gonna get more than a police protection form stamped on your pretty little face - "

Eyes widening as she realized Sophia was in fact not letting go, and even more heinous, pulling her away, Jace began scrabbling in her backpack for some sort of bludgeon in which to fend the girl off. Hah! If this girl thought she could somehow molest Jace T. Kellen in the middle of a fire alarm, she had another thing coming!

Letalis looked around stupidly as the alarm suddenly burst into shrill noise. "Ouch! That hurts my ears!" she complained, covering her largish ears. As the class slowly began to pour out, she looked around, obviously confused. She shrugged, and grabbed her backpack, and began to walk outside. A couple of guys stared after her as she left the room, and she flushed, and blew a kiss to one. She never took anything that involved school very seriously. Then, she saw this odd girl, bird, and a girl in a wheelchair all clustered around each other. "Ooo! GOSSIP!" she squeaked, and ran over, hiding behind the corner to overhear their conversation.

Thankfully, it seemed Jace had not yet managed to find a proper bludgeoning tool. Sophie was having a hard time explaining what exactly she was doing with the wheelchair over the hubbub of the crowd and was now wrestling with the stronger Jace for control of the vehicle. Leta managed to position herself to where she was unnoticed, but able to overhear perfectly.

As the last students exited, Jace fixed Sophie with a death-inducing glare and jerked herself away. "Wait!" Sophie said, trying to grab the chair again.

"Yes, please do wait! You will be very interested to hear what I have to say!"

A large gray bird came skipping out from the bathroom and launched himself into the air, landing perfectly on the arm of Jace's chair. "Greetings," he informed her, "My name is Perdix. I would be ever-so-appreciative if you didn't faint."

Jace stared for exactly 5.4 seconds before reversing her wheelchair back so fast it bumped into the washbasin. Perdix let out a squawk of surprise, but only fluttered further down the wheelchair arm. Unfortunately for him, Jace had now managed to get her Science textbook out of her bag and was holding it grimly above the unfortunate partridge's head.

"I don't know what was in my Lucky Charms this morning, but just because I'm tripping doesn't mean that I'm going to let a talking bird called Puddix - "

"Perdix!"

" - get in my..." Growing horror registered over the girls face. "You really are talking!"

Sophia watched in mild amusement as the redhead dropped her science book with a slam and began prodding the bird unmercifully in all sorts of sore places.

"Where's the microphone? Or the machinery? Or your battery flap?" Placing her fingers gently on his neck and finding a darting heartbeat, she blinked suspiciously. "You aren't a robot. Dear Holy Mary Mother on Toast! The animal heads are talking to me!

From just around the corner, Leta's large violet eyes widened at the sound of a bird talking. At first, she thought Percy had followed her, but this bird was not Percy. She decided to take this moment to step out. "Hiya! I'm Letalis Forma, call me Leta! I couldn't help overhearing your conversation, and wondering how odd it was that you have a talking bird, because I have one too!" Leta squealed merrily, bouncing up and down on the soles of her feet.

"Isn't it exciting?! So, who are you people? Sailor ...erm... Talking Bird?" she asked Percy, arching a brow. She then shrugged, and pasted the grin back on her face. "I'm Sailor Aphrodite, I think. I might be dreaming..." she began, looking as thoughtful as she could. "But then ago, its cool! So, what's the birds name? My is Perseus, but I call him Percy. He hates it, so that is why I just call him it more." she added, smiling and bouncing cheerfully.

At this new revelation, Jace stared at first Perdix then the chirpy, bubbly Leta. "Oh, great," she muttered. "Stuck between a blonde and a bird place." Clearing her throat, she raised her voice. "Aha. So this is some kind of cult, right? The cult of talking birds? Well, I'm sure as hell not gonna run up into the mountains and smoke weed with you, and I'm pretty damn sure I've seen _her_ face - " Jace jabbed her finger out at Sophia - " - on a milk carton, and that girl on the floor's stoned, right? Nooo thanks. I didn't know Fleming was so full of nuts.

Meanwhile, Acacia's leg twisted spasmodically. She turned her head slowly, eyes tightened shut. Ever so carefully, she opened her eyes, gazing at the talking people, one of which was in a wheelchair. She heard the word 'stoned', and scrambled to her feet.

"I just wanted to tell you that Mr. Campbell needs to know where you went," she uttered lamely, and wobbled over to the *happy* bunch of people, regaining confidence with each step.

"Who can explain this, exactly? I'd like to hear a summary of this," she said, eyes darkened, arms crossed. "Someone please tell me the bird talks so I don't think I'm gaga."

She covered her mouth with her hands.

"Do people who are gaga know they're gaga? Or do they think other people are gaga? Do people who are crazy say they're gaga?!"

From his perch on Jace's wheelchair, Perdix ruffled his feathers. "I'd care more about your sanity if everyone would just listen to me. We haven't much time--"

"Oh, get off it, Perdix. It'll take them another ten minutes to put out that blaze and they won't let anyone back into the halls until then."

Everyone looked at Sophie.

"What? You think I just pulled the fire alarm for fun? I set a fire first."

Acacia dropped her gaze to the ground.

"How do you know who we all are? This is so weird, and yet... so familiar... what will happen?"

She averted her eyes to Perdix, and started wringing her hands in distress, trying to calm herself. She was trembling.

"Never mind," snapped Perdix, directing the focus of attention back to himself. "I am Perdix, leader of the Graikos Senshi, and thus your leader as well!" A groan could be heard from Sophie, but Perdix ignored it and continued. "There is a great war coming... Our enemies from the past, the Romanus Senshi, have returned and now we must fight! Sophia here is Sailor Metis, the Titaness of Wisdom. Each of you has your own senshi identity waiting to be reawakened..."

Suddenly, Perdix stopped and looked at Leta. "You already know of your identity, don't you?"

Leta looked thoughtful and then nodded to Perdix's question. "Yeah, I know who I am. The Goddess of Love and Beauty... I AM APHRODITE!" she yelled, perhaps a bit too loud. When everyone scowled at her, she looked nervous, and then dismissed it with an innocent "Whoops!" A moment later, she asked Perdix, "Hey, you're our leader?" and began poking at his wing. "You don't look much like a leader. You look more like a bird..." she commented, and then stopped poking him.

"Now, what's this about Rompainus senshi?" she asked, straightening up a bit to look strong.

"Romanus." corrected a voice behind her, with a frustrated squawk. Leta groaned, as Percy hopped onto her shoulder. "Everyone, meet Percy." she grumbled, shoving him off her shoulder where he soon flapped upon her head. "Hello senshi. And Perdix, you are NOT the leader." Percy said cheerfully, ruffling his feathers a bit as Leta swatted at him to get him off her lovely blonde hair. "MY HAIR!" she moaned and Percy flew off, pulling a couple strands off hair with him. He too came to rest on Jace's wheel chair.

"What is it with me and birds?" the redhead muttered mournfully. "I don't like birds. I hate birds. In fact, the only time when birds even slightly amuse me is when they're stuffed with breadcrumbs and sage and things." Jace slumped in her chair, Percy perched on top of her head, and shook her chin. "Okay. I can believe that there are two extremely retarded birds in the room who can talk. I can believe that that blonde chick is on Prozac - "

"Hey!"

" - hell, aren't all blondes on Prozac anyway?" Jace shifted in her wheelchair and turned her steely gaze towards Perdix again. "But if you expect me to believe some crackpot story that we're all reincarnation of some dead Greek people and that we officially have Enemies with some incredibly shitty name, then I officially have a bridge to sell all of you and I want to get out of this drughouse and go and poke up at that fire."

"Prozac my ass..." Leta muttered, having the sudden urge to punch Jace. She managed to control it, though.

"You don't have to believe me," Perdix said simply to the spiky-haired Jace, "Just say the words 'Hephaestos Deus Power, Make-Up.' And don't tell me they sound stupid. I already heard that one from Sophie."

Leta nodded towards Jace. "It's true! See, watch. APHRODITE DEUS POWER, MAAKKEE-UPPP!" she yelled. A giant clam swallowed her up and she re-appeared as Aphrodite.

"YOU IMBECILE!" screamed Perdix, looking extraordinarily glum. "Someone could have heard and seen you!" he yelled, his eyes blazing like only a birds could.

Aphrodite seemed a little shocked, but shot back with a vengeance: "And what about a talking bird, huh?!"

"And me?" Acacia said nervously.

"You'll be needing this--" Perdix opened his wing and a black skull fell out. It landed on the floor and rolled to Acacia's feet. "Take that and say 'Hades Deus Power, Make Up.'"

Acacia picked up the eerie skull, and fingered it delicately, smiling mysteriously, almost grinning. She was beginning to show her dark side, her true form, as Sailor Hades.

"When will I be able to try it?" she asked quietly, as to not arouse suspicion. She felt calm and collected now.

Jace took one look at the proceedings and about-faced her wheelchair. "Nice skirt," she informed the pink-garbed Aphrodite, and began to promptly roll out of the bathroom. No way was she going to stay any longer in a room full of... full of stuff she was inherently sure she hadn't seen more than she had to. Jace Kellen did not want to make with the bibbity bobbity boo, and if Jace Kellen didn't want to do something, then Jace Kellen damn well didn't do it. "Have a nice life, in rehab or otherwise," she said as way of goodbye, and made for the exit.

"Hey!" Perdix yelped loudly, causing Jace to stop. She gave the irate partridge a cold glare. Unperturbed, Perdix took two hops forward and looked up at her with his beady black eyes. "If you're going to go, at least humor me a moment and say the phrase I told you. What's the worse that could happen? It's not like saying some crummy phrase is going to cause you physical pain or mental anguish."

"It just might," Sophie mumbled, barely audible, but she had to admit a good deal of curiosity herself. It was up to her to try a new tactic. "Forget it, Perdix, we don't need some legless wonder. It's not like she can fight. Probably too scared to try saying a bunch of stupid, harmless words." Sophie smirked at Jace, eager to provoke a violent reaction.

Immediately Jace wheeled around, throwing her backpack at the wall angrily and clenching her fists. "Legless wonder, huh?" she said through clenched teeth. "I swear - if I just - " She bit her lip to try to get some control over herself, eyes like granite and body trembling with rage. "I'll say your stupid damn phrase, and then I'm going to _eat_ that bird, pull _your_ head open and butter your brains all over the gym field! Hephaestos Deus Power, Make-Up. Go - "

The redhead was cut off abruptly by the feeling of being yanked forcibly into the air. Her wheelchair disappeared so quickly she didn't even have the time to think about it - and then the flame erupted.

She tried to scream but found that the order didn't quite get from her brain to her mouth - and although the fire felt red-hot, it was not uncomfortable, in some strange way. It didn't burn, that was for sure, it just... made itself a part of her, seething into her skin.

There was no time for fright. Another presence was making itself felt; silver-white and shimmery, dripping onto her, enclosing her in it's safe brightness - molten metal, Jace decided - forming a shell around her. However, it began flowing _in_ to her thighs rather than hardening around them, which was a most disturbing feeling.

Then brightness again, the daylight filtering through the windows of the dank bathroom, and shimmering sparks flying off her body! The metal had gone, but it had left something behind... something heavy on her thighs, intimately connected to her, alive…

It had changed her clothes, too - Jace dimly felt whispery, flame-warm fabric brushing against her arms and tight cloth around her torso, with something segmented and soft tightly packed around her thighs like a skirt. It felt comfortable, like a second skin, and... right, somehow.

-I am Sailor Hephaestos-, whispered a small voice inside her head, and she realized she was standing and staring at the faces of the blonde and the dark-haired one and both of them looked smug and so did the bird if birds COULD look smug and she was standing, standing, standing...!

Hephaestos fell abruptly, flat on her face, too amazed to be humiliated and too confused to feel angry.

"Sailor Hephaestos?" That was the bird. She didn't give a damn.

-Flex-, her mind told her foot - her foot! - and it did. Strong and sure, quick to respond.

-Flex-, she told her knee, and her foot kicked out powerfully at the floor. Absently, she felt a tile shatter. Oops.

As unsure of her legs as a toddler learning, Hephaestos grabbed onto a sink for support and hauled herself up, unwieldy. Not because of a lack of fine legs, but for her mind's inability to comprehend that she now had two of them.

Blinking away sudden, foolish tears, she grabbed painfully at Sophia's arm. "Who's the legless wonder now, then?" she asked, voice a triumphant rasp.

"Hey hey hey! Break it up you two! We are a team, remember?" Leta said sweetly, wrenching Hephie's grasp off of Sophie's arm and stepping between the two, accidentally knocking the unsure Jace down. "Oops..."

Acacia fingered the delicate skull, knowing it was now her turn to reveal
her power. She gave a great sigh, and called for her destiny.

"Hades Deus Power, Make up!"

A cool sensation came over Acacia, black ribbons encircled her until she was completely covered up. She tried to cry out, but her voice was lost in the swirling ebony winds surrounding her. Then, they dissolved, everything dissolved, leaving her in her fuku, skull on her lavender ribbon choker. The fuku contained ebony boots that went up to the knee. She had a lavender skirt that went down to the lower part of her thigh as well as a lavender tube top, and lavender gloves that went up to the elbow. Over this she wore a sleeveless black trench coat kept partially closed with a lavender belt. In the middle of her belt was a black bow and another one on the lower back of her trench coat. A golden tiara with an opal in the middle rested on her head.

Acacia gazed at her new uniform, and nearly passed out again. "Sailor Hades..."

By now, Perdix was in a giddy state. "Great! Wonderful! Superplenderiferous!" he exclaimed, hopping around.

"That's not a word," Sophie informed him.

Everyone looked at Sophie. She had been standing in the corner, not doing much of anything the entire time.

Jace finally managed to haul herself to a safe position by gripping at a sink. "So, do you get to transform?" she asked caustically. "Or don't you get one of these shitty barbie-doll outfits?"

"I don't want to transform," Sophie informed the group, agitating Perdix to no end.

"Yes, you do," the redhead shot right back. "I wear bows, she's in pink, and Miss Hades looks like a bubbly goth. You have to join in the humiliation."

Groaning at the combined peer pressure of the group, Sophie finally relented and put her hand to her necklace. "I still don't want to, but fine. Metis Titaness Power, Make Up!" A swirl of energy shot out from between her fingers, encompassing her in a kaleidoscope of blue and green light. The light faded, leaving Sailor Metis in Sophie's place. Rather than smile or pose, she just stood there and frowned. "I hope you're happy."

"Yeah, I'm ha--" Perdix began to retort, but stopped.

"What is it, Perdix?"

Perdix took a moment to collect himself. "I sense... I sense the enemy!"

"... we have an enemy? Who, the fashion police?" Jace clumsily slipped again, careering back until she landed with a bump onto her rear.

A muscle under Acacia's eye twitched at Jace's earlier remark.

"A 'Bubbly Goth'? Is that what I look like!?" She turned to Perdix. "I didn't CHOOSE this outfit, I didn't choose this job! I don't think I am as skilled or powerful as you predict I am! So, why was I picked!? Out of six billion people, why did you come to me?!"

Poor Perdix was left looking stunned for a few moment. "I, er..." He never got the chance to offer up an explanation, for at that very moment, the bathroom door opened.

"Wow, lookee here Venustus! It's a Graikos picnic," a dry and slightly nasal voice screeched.

"Cupid, shut up and get to it," said the undersized dove perched on the pink-clad girl's shoulder. Venustus turned to Perdix and said in voice dripping with sarcasm, "Hey Perdy, long time no see, eh?"

"Puh-kuh-tuh-buh-duh--" Perdix sputtered, barely making any sense. He began to hop around, trying madly to manage something intelligible. Finally, he squawked, "It's a Romanus! Kill it!" Of course, that only made everyone stare at him in a condescending manner.

Snuff out a damn blonde in a stupid miniskirt? After giving Perdix a withering look, Sailor Hephaestos, nothing loath, immediately picked up her large textbook used earlier in an attempt to kill Perdix. Clumsily ambling over to a surprised Cupid, she swung it in a wide arc towards the pink-uniformed girl's head. The book was heavy and hardback, and the force behind Hephaestos' fists could easily give concussions - especially armed with a tome of genetics!

The rather large, heavy textbook slammed into wall with a sharp, echoing 'thwack.' Minute cracks started to form in the wall rather than Cupid's head, as Hephaestos might have hoped. Cupid, now crouched on the floor, looked up and giggled nervously at the cracks in the brick wall. "Hehe...hehe...that might have hurt-

Venustus interrupted her, sighing with disgust. "Get up! Now!"

"Well, maybe if there was another Romanus here to help me-"

"Shut up and do it!"

"Well, fine, if you're-" Cupid whined, not noticing Hephaestos getting ready for another swing....

Cupid let out a squeak as the book narrowly missed her head for a second time. While it was amusing to watch the Romanus senshi of lust being attacked with a textbook, Venustus had quite enough of this, mostly because he knew he was in danger of becoming a greasy spot on the back of the book. Venustus fluttered over to the area where Perdix was perched, and yelled at the leader of Graikos, "Perdix! Stop that preposterous carrot-top right now! If we're going to fight, we're going to do it correctly!"

Ignoring Venustus, Perdix turned to Metis. "Attack her! Say 'Metis Wisdom Wisecracker!'" Metis rolled her eyes a moment at the stupid phrase, but it was no stupider than "Metis Titaness Power, Make Up," so she quickly said, "Metis Wisdom Wisecracker." Instantly, her hand shot up and a small firecracker formed in her hand. Metis wasted no time in throwing it at Hephaestos and Cupid. It landed squarely between them and exploded with a large pop. The sound surprised the two fighting girls and caused a short pause in their fight. "Nerf-herder!" Poor Metis stared at her wisecracker, blinking. "Hey, metal legs, put on some pantyhose! You over there! Your ears are bigger than Dumbo's and twice as dumb!"

Poor Aphrodite gaped in shock of the insult, and instantly turned red. Clapping her hands over her ears, she turned to scowl at Metis. "THAT WAS RUDE!" she yelled, over the rush of the insults from the Wisecracker. She then looked desperately at Cupid, and hissed to the bird perched upon her shoulder hurriedly "What do I do!?"

The bird looked thoughtful, and then ruffled his feathers. "Well, I have no clue if this will have effect on the Romanus senshi, but its worth a shot. Say 'Aphrodite Love Realization,'" Percy whispered back, flapping off her shoulder to a sink.

"Aphrodite Love Realization?" she asked, and then somehow her body moved to perform the attack. She put her hands to her heart, and then aimed them at Cupid's heart, shooting a little pink ball at her. Unfortunately, at the time, she was wondering about the other bird guardian, Perdix, and how many guardians there were.

As Cupid stood up, the ball of pink energy hit her straight in the heart. After a few moments of flashing pink light, a slight tingling feeling left her feeling drowsy and lightheaded. She blinked once before her gaze settled on poor Perdix. "Perdix," Cupid said listlessly, "what a wonderful name..."

It took a moment for this to sink in. Perdix gave the Romanus senshi a funny stare, then looked at Aphrodite. Finally, it dawned on him, and he made a frightened dash for Metis' legs. Metis began to laugh at the bird once she figured out that Cupid seemed to be in love with him.

Hephaestos took one look at the cowering bird and the dopey smile on Cupid's face and burst out in raucous laughter, catcalling. "Wooohooo!" she snickered. "Some bird is gonna get some sweet sweet lovin' tonight!"

"Don't just stand around gawking, attack her!" Perdix demanded.

"The honeymoon's over so soon?" Hephaestos still wondered out loud. "And here was I hoping to go to the wedding..."

"Bite me," Perdix said, then hastily reconsidered, backing away slightly.

Aphrodite just stood there, staring at her hands. "Waittasec! Percy! What exactly did I just DO!?" she asked her guardian, staring at him.

Perseus was still on the sink, obviously trying to stifle his laughter. "Making Cupid there fall in love with Perdix was genius, Aphrodite!" Percy crowed, hopping around on his feet.

"I did what!?" Aphrodite yelled, looking shocked.

"You're slow, Aphrodite. Cupid is going to be in love with Perdix for a bit. Just a few minutes."

From his hiding place behind Metis's leg, Perdix moaned, "How could you do this to me?"

Aphrodite blushed, and laughed nervously. "Erm, heh, sorry," she said to Cupid, giggling nervously again.

"Why are you apologizing!? She is the enemy!" Percy cried out, squawking insanely.

"Because, its not nice to make people fall in love with.. erm, birds." she explained, looking sheepish.

"You're going to take more work then I thought. Alright folks, attack!"

Hades sweatdropped and slapped her face.

"Okay.... remind me to deny knowing you people, okay? I've no problem with this."

Her expression turned serious. Risking attention from others, she held out her hands, filling them with black smoke. She then clasped them together, bringing them to her chest. A shard of black emerged from the fingers, then another, until seven ebony rays appeared, and targeted at Cupid. Somewhere from deep inside, Sailor Hades called out:

"Hades Soul Blade!"

Hopefully... Cupid was in for it.

Staring at Perdix, Cupid was totally oblivious to Hades powering up for an attack. She started to say, "Perdix, why are you-" when the seven beams of dark energy struck her. Cupid let out a shriek and then collapsed to the floor.

At that precise moment, the school bell rang, signifying that it was now safe for students to come back inside. That also meant that now everyone had to get back to class -- and fast. Metis looked like she was about de-transform, but Perdix let out the loudest squawk yet.

"Whatever you do, don't de-transform in front of our enemies! If you do, it'll break the glamour! So long as nobody sees you transforming of de-transforming, they won't be able to figure out who we are!"

"Well," Sophie reasoned, "we're running out of options." Outside the door, the sound of students beginning to march down the hall could be heard.

"I have an idea." Metis leaned over and grabbed the unconscious Cupid, dragging her to one of the bathroom stalls.

Hephaestos grabbed the struggling Venustus from his hiding place, skulking underneath the sink, and ignored his curses as she followed Metis into the stall. With pomp and dignity (and not a little sadistic joy) she wedged him inside the crook of Cupid's arm. "If you don't want to have your neck broken, you're going to stay there," she said pleasantly to the bird, and locked the door behind her as she and Metis evacuated (a trick learnt long ago from Fleming veterans).

"So, how the hell do I get out of the skirt now?"

Aphrodite stood there dumbly, watching everyone as they passed with a dull look of surprise in her violet eyes. What the heck was goin' on anyway?

"Now now, allow me to enjoy those skirts for a second." Percy squawked, in a feeble attempt to joke.

"Percy, shut up and tell us how to get back to our normal selves!" the pig-tailed senshi squeaked, snapping out of her trance-like state.

"Hmm, detransforming? Oh, right. Simply concentrate on your former selves. Imagine a picture of your civilian state. It'll all come naturally then," Percy instructed, with a birdlike shrug.

"Hey, if I imagine my hair, makeup, and clothes perfect, will it happen?" Aphrodite pleaded, a bright twinkle beginning to arise in her purple eyes.

"Hopefully her ears'll go down, too," Hephaestos muttered.

"Eh, no, Aphrodite. You go back to how you were before this," Percy explained, exasperated.

"B-but, I don't wanna! My hair is all-"

"Be quiet." Percy grumbled, ruffling his feathers slightly.

Sighing, Aphrodite de-transformed, returning to Letalis Forma. "Oh no, MY HAIR!" she whined, facing a mirror with a look of shock.

"Oh, screw your stupid blonde locks. You're just as ugly as ever," Hephaestos snapped, and turned to the two guardian birds. "What do you mean, civilian form? Do you mean I have to go back to being Little Miss Thighstumps?" The red-haired senshi of the forge looked down admiringly to her shiny new 'legs', experimentally kicking the wall just in case she never got to do it again. "I like these," she noted. "Want to keep 'em."

Perdix was clearly distressed by Hephaestos's argument. He ruffled his feathers once. "Sorry, I can understand how you feel about something like this. It isn't easy for me to be a bird, you know, but it's really impossible for you to stay like this." As he spoke, Metis held her hand to her neck and de-transformed, returning to her identity as Sophia Dunn. "I hate to say, this, Jace," Perdix continued, "but if you don't de-transform you could really get hurt. It takes a lot of energy to transform, you can't just do it and remain transformed forever. You'll get to do it again."

"Simply touching," Sophie interrupted, "but if we don't hurry we won't make
it back to class and we'll all be in trouble. So get out of that horrendous get-up and let's go." She went to the door and stared at Hades and Hephaestos expectantly.

Jace's face twisted, brows furrowing and gray eyes narrowing. The two opposing camps in her conscience were both large and mighty - one screamed, 'Running over people!' and the other screamed 'Legs!'

However, the prospect of 'hurt' was dubious, and besides, there was the promising prospect of Legs again. And besides, how the hell would she explain the large metal things on her stumps? 'Sorry, I just woke up and they were there!'

Besides, she had an Olympics to qualify for. Limbs could wait. Sailor Hephaestos squinted her eyes shut, and grabbed the bow on her chest in what would turn out to be a nervous habit, and soon she landed back in her chair with an -oof- in her old sexy jean-shorts and t-shirt. Well, that was a relief. That skirt sucked.

While Hephaestos detransformed, Sailor Hades focused on her own body. The last thing she wanted was to miss another class. She already had Latin to make up for. What would she say to her dad when he found out? An evil little though popped into her head, the idea of not mentioning it at all. She quickly pushed it aside, reminding herself of the distaste she had in keeping dirty little secrets.

"Hold on!" she cried anxiously as she struggled to hide her henshin stick and race out of the bathroom at the same time. Colliding with the wall, Acacia managed to head out of the facilities without drawing too many stares, just enough to make her blush furiously.

Mere steps behind, Sophie exited with Perdix tucked safely in her backpack. The group proceeded down the hallway and back into the classroom, where an irate Mr. Campbell tried to resume teaching his class for what little remained of the block. He directed most of his anger at Sophie as she returned to her seat.

"And why, Miss-- Miss-- Young lady, where have you been?"

"There was a fire outside so I pulled the fire alarm."

Poor Mr. Campbell stood with his mouth open like a fish. A few of the students giggled, but Sophie was not among them, nor were Leta, Acacia, and Jace. All four had seen the enemy they were destined to fight. Today was no laughing matter for them; it was the first day of a war.